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The St. Louis Cardinals starter watched in anger while umpires overruled an out call at second as shortstop Pete Kozma muffed a possible inning-ending, double play in a three-run first.

Wainwright waved everyone off a Stephen Drew's pop up, then backed off and watched in shock as it to nestled into the lush Fenway Park grass in the two-run second.

And worst of all, he looked on in worry as the Cardinals' best hitter, Carlos Beltran, crashed into the fence in right field making a catch and later left Game 1 of the 109th World Series Wednesday night at Fenway.

The Boston Red Sox outclassed the Cards, as if playing triple-A Pawtucket, by an 8-1 score. Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday night at Fenway.

"Wainwright got much better as he went, better than his line showed," manager Mike Matheny told reporters. "We gave them too many opportunities."

Wainwright allowed five runs - three earned. The first unearned run scored as a result of Kozma dropping the ball. Second-base umpire Dana DeMuth still said out, but umps changed the call.

The second came when Wainwright allowed Drew's ball to fall.

"Wainwright is the first one that's going to say that that's his ball," Matheny said. "That's kind of in-between land where we typically tell our position players we want them to try to get that. It's a very tough play on the catcher. But Adam Wainwright wanted that ball, and as soon as he came off the field he was talking about how he should have caught it."

CANUCK CONTENT

Port Dover's John Axford and Ryan Dempster of Gibsons, B.C. each pitched in the game marking the first time two Canadians pitched in the same World Series game since Game 1 in 2007 - North Delta B.C.'s Jeff Francis was with the Colorado Rockies and Eric Gagne of Mascouche, Que. with Boston.

Axford struck out the side - Xander Bogaerts, Stephen Drew and David Ross - in the sixth for the Cardinals, Dempster allowed a homer to Matt Holliday leading off the ninth. He then popped up Allen Craig and Yadier Molina. He allowed a single to David Freese before striking out Matt Adams.

NOT WILL FARRELL

Farrell did not have a sense of humour during his two years managing the Blue Jays.

Not as quick with a quip or a storyteller like former managers Jimy Williams, Cito Gaston, Buck Martinez, Jim Fregosi and John Gibbons.

Farrell was asked about his teammates with the 1988 Cleveland Indians: Ron Washington, Terry Francona, Bud Black and hitting coach Charlie Manuel. All went on to manage in the majors.

“Must have been something in Lake Erie,” said Farrell jokingly,

But there was one day ...

Ricky Romero pitched a four-hit, complete game shutout at Busch Stadium on Sunday June 26, 2011, as the Jays swept the St. Louis Cardinals, the same Cardinals who went on to win the World Series four months later.

The Jays won the opener 5-4 on Jose Bautista’s homer in the ninth in a game in which Farrell tried to make a double switch on his second trip to the mound. Crew chief Tim McClelland waved his index finger, shooing him back to the dugout. Carlos Villanueva pitched the middle game, a 6-3 Jays win. And then Romero was brilliant.

Now, the Cardinals were without Albert Pujols, Allen Craig, Colby Rasmus and David Freese, but three wins on the road, are three wins.

We asked Farrell after the game if there was anything special about managing against Tony La Russa?

“Certain teams, certain managers have an aura about them, a mystique,” Farrell said. “Tony has it, like when Joe Torre ran the New York Yankees.”

Could you give an example?

“Well,” said Farrell, with a smile, “you know that he wouldn’t mess up a double switch like I did on Friday.”

The bronze sculpture of the late No. 9, the Splendid Splinter, the greatest hitter ever, as many around here rightly claim, has a bat on one shoulder and is giving his cap to a youngster.

Someone has pasted a red beard to Williams chinny chin chin.

We bet the over/under on Williams ripping off the beard would be two seconds.

MOVING AROUND

Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos scouting Jays prospects in the Arizona Fall League ... Former Jays pitching coach, Bruce Walton, has signed to be seasonal pitching co-ordinator for the Okotoks Dawgs Academy in Oktotoks, Alta. Walton was the Jays pitching coach from 2010-12 and prior to that the bullpen coach from 2002. Walton, who married an Alberta woman and lives in Calgary, will work with Dawgs pitchers at the Duvernay Fieldhouse, adjacent to the Seaman Stadium. Milwaukee Brewers closer Jim Henderson is an Okotoks grad as are recent drafts Tyler Hollick (San Francisco Giants) and Chris Shaw (Milwaukee Brewers). A number of major league teams looking for pitching coaches have inquired about Walton’s availability. ... The Yankees have canned strength and conditioning coordinator Dana Cavalea, as the Jays let go their guy Bryan King. Which no doubt means zero injuries and post-season play for both.

CARLOS WHO?

In early 2009, Red Sox scout Craig Shipley, signed Carlos Matias from the Dominican Republic and gave him a $140,000 signing bonus. He reported to Boston Academy on the island. When Major League Baseball had its background check, it was discovered Matias’ name was actually Carlos Martinez. The deal was voided on identity fraud. Martinez was suspended for a year, unable to sign elsewhere.

All the furor in the Dominican made it so that every team scouted Martinez. Cardinals scouting director Jeff Luhnow, now GM of the Houston Astros gave Martinez a $1.5-million bonus. And now Martinez is in the World Series bringing a 98-mph fastball out of the bullpen.

The Sox lodged a protest with the commissioner’s office, but it was turned down.

Of course, Boston did win lodging and win protest after Game 3 of the 2004 World Series when they spotted a stationary bike in the Cardinals bullpen. And who was riding the bike to get loose? The portly lefty Ray King.

WACHA, WACHA

Texas A&M Aggies coach Rob Childress had Michael Wacha, who starts Game 2 for the Cards on Thursday night, in his rotation in the spring of 2012. Childress has other connections to the World Series. Cardinals starter Shelby Miller was a Texas A&M commit, but opted to sign with the Cardinals as the 19th pick in 2009 MLB draft. Miller was 15-9 with a 3.06 ERA making 31 starts for St. Louis this year. Yet, in the post-season the Cardinals staff is so deep that Miller hasn’t been given one start of their 10 games and he has pitched one playoff inning of the 100 the St. Louis arms have worked. Boston third baseman Will Middlebrooks, also an A&M signee, elected to sign with the Red Sox as a fifth-round pick in the 2007 draft.

BACK IN TIME

This is my first trip to Fenway since the 2008 World Series and they have spruced up the old gal. A lot. On my first series here in 1985, I recall walking into the darkness underneath the seats around 1 a.m., and being startled by a big black cat scampering away from a late-night feast of leftover hot dug buns ... Next night, same thing. I mentioned it to veteran Boston Herald scribe Joe Giuliotti, who said: “They aren’t cats they’re rats.” ... Last time here in 2008, the Tampa Bay Rays were up 7-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh. J.D. Drew singled with two out in the bottom of the ninth for an 8-7 Red Sox win. Two nights later, at Tropicana Field, the Rays advanced to the World Series where they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games.

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOUR

The highly respected Gaku Tashiro of Sankei Sports makes history as one of three official scorers for the World Series. He is the first from Japan to score a World Series. Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Mike Shalin, formerly of the Boston Herald, are the other two ... J.P. Sarault of the Montreal Matin was the first Canadian to score a Series, working the 1980 Kansas City Royals-Philadelphia Phillies matchup.

Second base umpire Dana DeMuth was 20 feet away from second as Cardinals’ Matt Carpenter flipped the ball to shortstop Pete Kozma with runners on first and second in the first inning of Game 1 of the 109th World Series at Fenway Park on Wednesday night.

Kozma dropped the ball, but DeMuth ruled the drop occurred on the transfer and the runner was out.

Boston manager John Farrell won the first argument getting the umpires to huddle and crew chief John Hirschbeck ruled Kozma never had control of the ball.